A team of UNLV undergraduate communication students has won second place in a prestigious national student television competition for their television special about UNLV athletics, titled "Beyond the Game."

This marks the first time UNLV has won in the College Television Awards competition run by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences -- the same body that gives out the prime-time Emmy awards.

UNLV's winning entry competed against 37 others from colleges and universities around the nation in the news/sports/magazine category. Among those competing in the same category were the University of California, Berkeley, which took first place; USC; Syracuse University; Ithaca College; and the University of Florida.

"I am extremely proud of our students for winning this national award," said UNLV President Carol C. Harter. "The fact that we could take second place at a competition which draws entries from some of the best film and television programs in the country speaks extremely well of our students, faculty, and course offerings in the Hank Greenspun School of Communication, and of the university itself."

"Beyond the Game" was produced to educate the local community about the human interest dimensions of student athletics at UNLV, said Dennis Mazzocco, a communication studies professor who served as faculty advisor and executive producer. The program illustrates UNLV's compliance with federal Title IX gender equity requirements, while bringing public attention to the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity represented in the university's sports programs, he said.

The team of communication students responsible for the show was headed by student producer Darryl Richardson and student director David Williamson.

Richardson, Williamson, and Mazzocco will attend a March 7 awards ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

"When I got the call telling me we'd won the award, I was just shocked," said Richardson, who graduated from UNLV with a dual bachelor's degree in political science and communication studies in May 1998 and now is a first-year law student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

"All of us who worked on the show knew we had produced a good program, but I don't think we expected that it would be award-winning," he said. "It's really a great accomplishment for UNLV as a whole."

As a second-place winner, Richardson will receive $1,000 from the College Television Awards and $1,000 in film stock from the Kodak Worldwide Student Program. He plans to turn over his winnings to the Hank Greenspun School of Communication.

"Beyond the Game" was produced as a class project in Mazzocco's broadcast practicum course during the 1997-98 academic year. It was first broadcast on UNLV-TV, channel 4, on Prime/Cox Cable in May 1998.

"I'm thrilled that people in the television industry now will know about the quality work being done by communication students at UNLV," Mazzocco said. "This awards program is something the industry watches with interest."

The College Television Awards this year drew a total of 276 entries from 120 universities and colleges in 37 states. The 21 awards went to just 16 colleges. Among the award winners this year were USC; the American Film Institute; New York University; Columbia; Stanford; and the Pratt Institute of Art.

Dean Martha Watson of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs -- of which the Hank Greenspun School of Communication is part -- said, "Our students and Dr. Mazzocco have my sincerest congratulations for their outstanding work. This may be the first College Television Award that UNLV has received, but I have the feeling it won't be the last."

Rounding out the student team that produced the program were program hosts Aimee Deaton, Adam Mohr, and Laura Sambol and producers Paul Espinosa Jr., Jamie Hapip, Sonny Minx, Bryan Pahia, Malia Risner, Chad Simmons, Justin Vaden, Michele Webster, David Williamson, Michael Adashefski, Thomas Brede, Kenneth Chong, Gayle Haas, Jean Paul Hellendall, Wolfgang Muchow, Patrick Wiebeld, and Jamie Combs. Mohr also served as a producer.

For additional information, call Mazzocco at 895-4376.